Three scraps roaming charges in seven countries

Three has abolished roaming charges in seven countries with UK consumers able to benefit from the changes immediately.

Customers on Three will now be able to go online, call and text using their current plan and use up their allowance with anything outside bundles subject to reduced roaming rates.

“We want to make sure our customers have the best possible mobile experience. By abolishing expensive roaming charges in select countries we are allowing our customers to get even more value from their minutes, texts and data abroad by removing the fear associated with staying in touch while travelling,” said Thomas Malleschitz, marketing director at Three.

‘Feel At Home’ will automatically activate when customers land in the Republic of Ireland, Australia, Italy, Austria, Hong Kong, Sweden and Denmark, and will work regardless of the local network that your device picks up.

Three are the first UK operator to give customers mobile phone and broadband access at the same price abroad as they benefit from at home and it’s the latest step in a continued push towards charging customers less for using their device in other territories.

The European Union [EU] has been at the forefront of these plans with new rules unveiled in July that cap the amount network operators can charge. As part of the new rules, customers can only be charged a maximum of 24 Euro cents [21p] per minute for a call made outside their country. Internet use was also targeted as part of the plans with the per megabyte rate cut from 70 cents in 2012 to 45 cents now with an SMS dropping to 8 cents.

The charges are set to tumble again next year with the EU stipulating that the cost of a call will fall to 19 cents a minute, Internet use dropping to 20 cents per megabyte and SMS messages costing just 6 cents.